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“Back to the Future” Episode Guide

Season 1

PRODUCTION NUMBER:: 01
EPISODE TITLE :: Brothers
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: September 14, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Marty is at the Brown’s house. He’s supposed to be studying for a test on the Civil War, but is instead playing his guitar. His video tutor has to shout loudly to get him to hear. She shouts the date February 11th 1864. The DeLorean’s time circuits can now be voice-controlled, so this date gets entered as the Destination Time.
Meanwhile Jules and Verne are arguing over the use of the computer. Jules wants to use it for work, Verne to play video games. Doc says they should both go outside for a while, but Verne accuses Doc of always taking Jules’ side. Upset, Verne takes the DeLorean. He doesn’t notice the Destination Time is set for February 11th 1864. Verne arrives in 1864 and the DeLorean turns into a suitcase! This is Doc’s newest invention, so the car can be stored. Unfortunately, only Doc’s voice or Einstein’s bark can turn it back into a car. Trapped in 1864, Verne has to join the Confederate Army as a drummer boy under General Tannen.
Back in present day Hill Valley, Jules discovers a picture of Verne in a book about the Civil War. His regiment were wiped out the next day in big battle! Doc, Jules and Marty use the train to go back to 1864 and bring Verne home. Marty guards the train but gets taken hostage, and Doc and Jules are taken by the Union Army, under General Clayton, Clara’s uncle.
Next day, the battle begins, but Jules and Verne spot each other and try to protect each other. The armies note the brothers huddled up together in fright and realize they are fighting their own brothers, and the battle does not go ahead. Back in the present, Jules and Verne realize that fighting is not the answer.
TRIVIA: Clara was apparently born in 1855 (if she’s nine years old in 1864).
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 02
EPISODE TITLE :: A Family Vacation
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: September 21, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Doc causes another power cut in his lab whilst trying to invent something. Jules and Verne are annoyed because their toy car racing has been interrupted (it runs on electricity) and Clara is annoyed at the lack of power as well. Feeling that his family has become too dependent on technology since they moved to the 20th Century, Doc uses the DeLorean to take his family back to Medieval England.
The family are not happy, especially when Doc sends the DeLorean several hours into the future so there is no way they can go home until then. Clara walks off and after meeting some Medieval women washing in the river she meets Lord Biffingham of Tannenshire. Biffingham takes a shine to Clara and when she turns him down he kidnaps her. Doc tries to save her but ends up being kidnapped as well. Biffingham imprisons Clara in his tower and decides to marry her – once she has become a widow! And he plans her to be a widow very shortly by challenging Doc to a jousting match.
Jules, Verne and Einstein set off to rescue their parents but end up getting caught in a trap. The man who set the trap turns out to be Harold McFly, one of Marty’s ancestors, who sets them free. It turns out that Harold’s love, Jennivere, has also been kidnapped by Biffingham and so Harold, Jules and Verne sneak into the castle to rescue them by pretending to be a traveling puppet show. Once inside they find Doc and using one of Verne’s toy cars from 1991, plus Harold’s not very edible biscuits, they come up with a plan for Doc to win. Unfortunately things don’t go to plan and Harold, Jules, Verne and Doc are to be beheaded.
Fortunately, at the last minute, they are rescued by Clara and Jennivere, who met each other in the tower and have made a hot air balloon. They rescue the menfolk and head out to Stonehenge, where Harold and Jennivere decide to emigrate to Ireland in the balloon to raise “generations of McFlys”. The DeLorean reappears as Biffingham catches up with the Browns, and Clara, Jules and Verne get inside, not letting Doc in until he apologizes for bringing them here without their consent. Doc apologizes, is let back into the car and the Browns return to Hill Valley.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 04
EPISODE TITLE :: Forward to the Past
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: September 28, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Doc and the boys travel back to prehistoric times to test a new invention and Doc stops a meteor from colliding with Earth. They don’t realize they changed history until they return home and find a civilization where dinosaurs rule!
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 03
EPISODE TITLE :: Witchcraft
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: October 12, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Marty makes an emergency trip back to Salem, Massachusetts in the DeLorean to deliver a spare flux capacitor to Doc and the family. While Doc installs it to fix the train, Marty, Clara and the boys go into town, where Marty gets accused of being a witch.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 06
EPISODE TITLE :: Roman Holiday (aka Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Race)
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: October 19, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Marty and Doc head to Ancient Rome, unaware Jules and Verne are joining them. While the boys cause trouble, Marty gets mixed up in a chariot race with Bifficus and Doc gets thrown to the lions.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 07
EPISODE TITLE :: Go Fly a Kite
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: October 26, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Jules and Verne are playing a game and Verne loses once again, meaning he has to take out the garbage for the next 753 weeks. Verne is naturally upset and asks why he always loses, and Jules says that Verne lacks the smartness that the other Browns have – therefore he must be adopted! Verne goes to see Doc, who has just invented a new machine that allows you to take a picture of anyone in time. The machine malfunctions and produces a picture of Verne with Benjamin Franklin, making Verne think that Franklin is his father. He takes the DeLorean and heads back to 1752.
Once there, Verne accidentally interferes with Franklin’s kite experiment. Back in present day Hill Valley, all the electricity goes out. Marty arrives at the Browns to see if Doc had anything to do with it, and Doc discovers that Verne is in 1752. He, Marty and Einstein head back there to rescue Verne and make sure Franklin does his experiment before all electrical appliances are erased from existence!
In 1752, Verne keeps pestering Franklin, much to Franklin’s annoyance. Doc shows up and tries to take Verne home, but Verne runs away saying he knows the truth about his “adoption”. Doc tells him he really is his father, but Verne runs up the unfinished Independence Hall. He slips and some bricks fall to the ground, and a distraught Doc tries digging through them to rescue him. Verne, who is safe up the clocktower, realizes how much Doc cares about him and lets him know he’s safe – until he slips again! Hanging from the hands of the clocktower, Verne is in trouble – until Marty, in the time train, comes to his rescue!
Now that Verne is safe, the time travelers have to make sure that Franklin still does his kite experiment. The storm has finished though, so using a drum, a hosepipe and a half speed Hauksbee machine, Doc creates a “storm”. Franklin comes back out, does his experiment and discovers the true nature of electricity. The time travelers return to 1991, where Jules apologizes to Verne.
TRIVIA: Clips from the first Back to the Future film of the lightning striking the clocktower in 1955 are shown at the start of this episode. We see Christopher Lloyd as Doc, but Michael J. Fox as Marty does not appear (we only see his hands).
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 08
EPISODE TITLE :: Time Waits for No Frog / Einstein’s Adventure
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: November 2, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: a) Looking to cure Marty’s athlete’s foot, Doc and Marty travel back in time to locate an extinct frog in South America, where they have to stop Biffando from stealing the Incas’ gold.
b) Two bank robbers steal the DeLorean and end up outside an Australian prison in 1790. With him having been in the back seat, it’s up to Einstein to get himself and these robbers home.
TRIVIA: This episode consisted of a main part, “Time Waits For No Frog”, followed by Doc’s live action broadcast which led into the 3 minute short, “Einstein’s Adventure”. This was the only time this happened on the BTTF series.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 09
EPISODE TITLE :: Batter Up
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: November 9, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Marty takes the place of his ancestor, pitcher Pee Wee McFly, to help his team win an 1897 Pennant game. But a nasty gangster named Diamond Jim Tannen wanted Pee Wee to lose.
TRIVIA: Bill Nye does not appear in this episode. Instead, former LA Dodgers star Brett Butler appears as himself at the end to help Doc explain the science behind a curveball.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 10
EPISODE TITLE :: Solar Sailors
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: November 16, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: It’s Doc and Clara’s wedding anniversary, and the boys have got them a present. Verne has drawn a picture for them, which his parents love, and Jules has invented a machine that allows yout to see the headlines of a newspaper from any date. He displays the headline for December 15th 2091, which says a space cruise is leaving from the McFly Space Center. He then produces 2 tickets for the cruise.
Doc and Clara head off to the future in the DeLorean. Minutes after they leave, Jules and Verne discover that the headline for December 16th 2091, the next day, says that the cruise is sabotaged by Ziff Tannen! They head off to 2091 in the time train to warn their parents, but get stopped by security and are unable to stop Doc and Clara from boarding. Jules and Verne try to stop Ziff Tannen from sabotaging the cruise, which is captained by Marty’s great granddaughter Marta McFly, by posing as schoolkids on a tour. They are too late to stop Ziff but manage to get him arrested for it.
On the cruise, Doc and Clara realize what has happened and offer to help Marta save her ship. Using space suits, they go out to try and repair the broken sails of the spaceship. Mission accomplished, the ship sails back to Earth. Ziff is thrown in jail, where he meets his grandfather Griff! The Browns head home after Marta thanks them for their help.
TRIVIA: This is the only episode in the series where people time travel into the future.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 12
EPISODE TITLE :: Dickens of a Christmas
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: November 23, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: It’s Christmas time so the Brown family and Marty go to 1800s London to celebrate. Unfortunately, the boys lose the key to the DeLorean to a pickpocket and Clara, a toy shop manager and his family get thrown into prison by Ebiffnezer Tannen.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 05
EPISODE TITLE :: Gone Fishin’
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: November 30, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: When Doc was four, he fell into a river during a fishing trip and has had a fear of it happening again ever since. After the boys learn about this, they and Marty try to change it. But they regret it when it leads to a mishap with a stunt plane, causing young Emmett Brown to become a famous daredevil.
TRIVIA: According to this episode, Doc was presumably born in 1922.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 13
EPISODE TITLE :: Retired
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: December 7, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Jules and Verne pull a string of April Fool’s Day pranks on Doc, tampering with his inventions. Unfortunately one of them, the Brain Wave Analyzer, causes Doc to think his days in science are over and he retires.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 11
EPISODE TITLE :: Clara’s Folks
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: December 14, 1991
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Verne is upset because a classmate’s grandfather has climbed “some mountain” and his grandfathers are boring. He then remembers about Daniel Clayton who was on the Oregon Trail in 1850, where he met Clara’s mother Martha. Verne, Jules and Marty head back to 1850 so Verne can get a picture of them to show his friend. Unfortunately, in a case of deja-vu for Marty, he interferes with the meeting of Daniel and Martha, and Martha falls in love with Marty instead!
Marty and the boys try to get Martha to fall for Daniel instead, but there’s a problem – she’s tough and ready for a fight, and he, like George McFly, is a wimp. Wild Bill Tannen tries to join the wagon train but is turned away because he smells. Tannen spots Martha and kidnaps her.
Back in present day Hill Valley, Clara starts erasing from existence Doc realizes what is happening and uses the train to go back to 1850. Back in 1850, Verne has discovered what has happened to his future grandmother and races after them, but a bear causes Tannen to flee and Martha and Verne are now trapped. Doc and Daniel manage to save the day and Martha falls in love with Daniel. History back on track, Marty, Doc and the boys return to the future.

Season 2

PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 15
EPISODE TITLE :: Mac the Black
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: September 19, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Marty and Verne travel to 1500s Caribbean, where Verne hopes to get an earring and Marty has to deal with pirate Mac The Black.
TRIVIA: Starting with this episode the opening titles change. The song is the same, but now clips from Season 1 episodes are seen rather than Doc using the DeLorean to pick up Marty and his family as in the Season 1 opening titles.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 16
EPISODE TITLE :: Put on Your Thinking Caps, Kids! It’s Time for Mr. Wisdom
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: September 6, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Marty and Verne meet Mr. Wisdom, who hosts a popular children’s science show. As it turns out, Doc and Mr. Wisdom were college roommates. Doc doesn’t recall it with fondness as Mr. Wisdom stole his invention for science fair and won. Things apparently haven’t changed as Mr. Wisdom has stolen the DeLorean!
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 17
EPISODE TITLE :: A Friend in Deed
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: October 3, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Biff wants a swimming pool in his garden, so whilst Biff Jr. digs a hole for it, Biff finds the deed to the Parker Ranch buried in the ground! In 1875 his great great uncle Thaddeus Tannen (Buford Tannen’s brother) forced the Parkers to sign over their ranch to him, and Biff realizes he now owns it. He goes to the ranch, where Jennifer’s grandparents live and whom Jennifer and Marty are visiting, and tells them to get out of “his” ranch.
Marty decides to help and he, Jules and Verne go back to 1875 to stop Thaddeus Tannen from getting the deed. Unfortunately, Thaddeus’s sister takes a shining to Marty and takes him home, where Thaddeus decides to make Marty a member of his gang. Marty realizes he can stop the deed from going ahead if he joins the gang. He becomes an outlaw, whilst trying not to get married to Thaddeus’s sister.
When the gang goes to the Parker Ranch, Thaddeus ties Mrs. Parker (Jennifer’s great great grandmother) to the railway line and unless Mr. Parker signs over the ranch, his wife is history. Mr. Parker agrees, but no one has a pen. Marty lends them his invisible ink pen and saves Jennifer’s great great grandmother with help from Jules and Verne. They head back to the present and the invisible ink causes the writing on the deed to disappear, meaning Biff now has no claim over the ranch. Jennifer thanks Marty for his help.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 18
EPISODE TITLE :: Marty McFly PFC
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: October 17, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: On a trip to the 1940s, Verne enters a dance contest with his future dance instructor, Dorothy, while Marty gets drafted.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 21
EPISODE TITLE :: Verne’s New Friend
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: October 24, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Verne and his new friend, Chris, go see a 1930s circus, which the owners are about to lose to landlord Farmer Tannen.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 20
EPISODE TITLE :: Bravelord and the Demon Monstrux
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: October 31, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Characters from Verne’s new favorite video game, BraveLord and Monstrux, come to life in a weird accident. Doc can’t fix this situation because he’s been sent into the game.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 19
EPISODE TITLE :: The Money Tree
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: November 7, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Jules tries to grow a money tree to become popular at school, which leads to troubles with the media and the FBI.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 23
EPISODE TITLE :: A Verne by Any Other name
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: November 14, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Verne gets sick of his name after kids keep making fun of him and goes to great lengths to get it changed, even going back to see his parents just before he’s born.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 22
EPISODE TITLE :: Hill Valley Brown-Out
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: November 21, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Just before the Founder’s Day Celebration, the town loses all it’s electricity again because of Doc. His attempt to fix it makes things worse, causing everyone to want the Brown family kicked out of town.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 24
EPISODE TITLE :: My Pop’s an Alien
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: December 5, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: After finding a strange craft in Doc’s bushes, Biff claims Doc is an alien and everyone believes him. In 1967, Marty, Jules and Verne arrive to discover the truth.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 26
EPISODE TITLE :: Super Doc
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: December 12, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Marty and the boys learn Doc had a stint in wrestling during the fifties, but never really competed. Traveling back in time, Marty and the boys attempt to get Doc to enter the ring. This unfortunately leads to him getting hit on the head and becoming a bumbling superhero.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 25
EPISODE TITLE :: St. Louis Blues
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: December 19, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Marty and Jennifer are at the golf course when Marty’s attempts to hit the ball cause mud to go all over Jennifer. Marty laughs at Jennifer’s hair and Jennifer is upset by this. A classmate of theirs stops by and asks Marty if he wants to go with her to the Country Club. After Jennifer storms off, Marty says that since he is now available, he will go.
Marty decides to get a haircut ready for that evening, and goes to the Brown’s house to borrow $100. The Browns aren’t in, but Marty spots one of Doc’s inventions, a haircutting machine. The machine seems to work, but suddenly Marty’s hairstyle keeps changing every few minutes!
The Browns meanwhile have gone to a theme park, but the price is so expensive that Doc and Clara decide to go back to the World’s Fair in 1904 where things were a lot cheaper and simpler. Once they have gone, Marty finds Jules and Verne and asks them where their parents are. Once he has been told, marty heads back to 1904 with the boys to find Doc.
At the World’s Fair, P T Tannen, one of the stall holders, is not having much luck with his business. When he spots Marty and his changing hairstyles, he kidnaps Marty. Marty is now a sideshow freak in Tannen’s stall, and people come to see the changing hairstyles of Marty. Doc and Clara find out and together with Jules and Verne, come up with a plan to save Marty. They pretend to be filming a movie, with Verne as the “director” and Doc and Clara as Keystone Cops. The “policemen” distract Tannen whilst Jules sets Marty free. They head back to the future where Doc sorts out Marty’s hair, and he decides to not go to the Country Club, instead going to Jennifer’s house and apologizing for laughing at her hair.
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PRODUCTION NUMBER :: 14
EPISODE TITLE :: Verne Hatches an Egg
ORIGINAL AIR DATE :: December 26, 1992
PLOT DESCRIPTION :: Verne uses the DeLorean to look for something to bring in for show and tell, finding a dinosaur egg. Unfortunately, the egg hatches in the present and it becomes more and more difficult to hide it.